Urging Canada to Cut Ties with Uyghur Forced Labour Systems
June 17, 2025
Under its Save Uyghur campaign, Justice For All Canada calls on the Canadian government to implement recommendations from The Global Rights Compliance regarding Uyghur forced labour. These calls to action are based on a new report detailing how Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims are subjected to state-imposed forced labour in Chinese-occupied East Turkistan (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region)’s mining sector.
According to the report, the extraction and processing of critical minerals, such as lithium, beryllium, magnesium, and titanium represent “state-imposed forced labour”. This form of labour is mandated by China’s Communist Party (CCP) government, often unavoidable and under threat of penalty, including detention or legal consequences. Uyghurs are also targeted through “labour transfer” programs administered through high surveillance systems and coercive state policies.
As documented by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and others, such programs operate in a broad context of mass arbitrary detention, systemic repression, and ongoing crimes against humanity. The report asserts that CCP-imposed forced labour using Uyghurs is inseparable from state policy, not isolated or incidental. The report challenges companies and state actors to treat any product linked to the region as presumptively tainted.
China’s complex and systemic implementation of forced labour results in Uyghur workers having no meaningful choice in their participation. Their freedom of movement, religion, and expression are further curtailed under a repressive system that enforces ideological conformity and ethnic assimilation.
For more than eight years, the international community has witnessed a genocide against Uyghurs. The Save Uyghur campaign echoes the report’s emphasis on global governments to address their relationship to the ongoing atrocities in East Turkistanthe Uyghur Region and throughout the global minerals supply chain. We call on Prime Minister Mark Carney to take immediate and decisive action on the report’s demands, including;
For a report summary or full text, visit https://globalrightscompliance.org/cm/
Under its Save Uyghur campaign, Justice For All Canada calls on the Canadian government to implement recommendations from The Global Rights Compliance regarding Uyghur forced labour. These calls to action are based on a new report detailing how Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims are subjected to state-imposed forced labour in Chinese-occupied East Turkistan (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region)’s mining sector.
According to the report, the extraction and processing of critical minerals, such as lithium, beryllium, magnesium, and titanium represent “state-imposed forced labour”. This form of labour is mandated by China’s Communist Party (CCP) government, often unavoidable and under threat of penalty, including detention or legal consequences. Uyghurs are also targeted through “labour transfer” programs administered through high surveillance systems and coercive state policies.
As documented by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and others, such programs operate in a broad context of mass arbitrary detention, systemic repression, and ongoing crimes against humanity. The report asserts that CCP-imposed forced labour using Uyghurs is inseparable from state policy, not isolated or incidental. The report challenges companies and state actors to treat any product linked to the region as presumptively tainted.
China’s complex and systemic implementation of forced labour results in Uyghur workers having no meaningful choice in their participation. Their freedom of movement, religion, and expression are further curtailed under a repressive system that enforces ideological conformity and ethnic assimilation.
For more than eight years, the international community has witnessed a genocide against Uyghurs. The Save Uyghur campaign echoes the report’s emphasis on global governments to address their relationship to the ongoing atrocities in East Turkistanthe Uyghur Region and throughout the global minerals supply chain. We call on Prime Minister Mark Carney to take immediate and decisive action on the report’s demands, including;
- Banning imports made with forced labour using a rebuttable presumption mechanism for high-risk regions or sectors.
- Enacting mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence laws with full supply chain visibility and public reporting.
- Including forced labour risks in all critical minerals agreements and enforcing binding labour and human rights standards.
- Prohibiting procurement of goods made in whole or part with state-imposed forced labour, including from East Turkistan.
- Requiring companies to disclose all critical mineral suppliers, processors, and exact facility locations.
- Specifically, Canada should formally identify the titanium, lithium, beryllium, and magnesium sectors as high-risk and linked to forced labour under existing laws.
- Regulators consulting diverse stakeholders to improve enforcement of forced labour trade and finance policies.
- Allocating resources to identify other high-risk critical minerals linked to Uyghur forced labour and prioritize them.
- Investing in recycling infrastructure and alternative sourcing to reduce dependence on East Turkistan’s mineral supply.
For a report summary or full text, visit https://globalrightscompliance.org/cm/